Brake Fire Sparks Emergency Evacuation Of American Airlines Flight At Denver Airport

 

More than 150 passengers were evacuated from an American Airlines flight on Saturday at Denver International Airport following a mechanical issue that sparked a fire and injured one person. The Boeing 737 MAX 8, which was set to depart for Miami, experienced what the Federal Aviation Administration described as a “possible landing gear incident.”

The incident occurred after a tire issue arose during the plane’s taxi for takeoff. Emergency crews, including the Denver Fire Department, quickly responded and helped evacuate the 173 passengers and six crew members directly onto the runway using an inflatable slide.

According to American Airlines, the combination of blown tires and heavy braking triggered a brake fire, which was quickly extinguished. “All customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team,” the airline said in a statement. “We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for their experience.”

Five individuals were evaluated by emergency responders at the scene, with one person later transported to a hospital with a minor injury.

The flight, originally scheduled to depart at 1:12 p.m. local time, encountered the issue around 2:45 p.m. The airline said a replacement plane would fly the passengers to Miami later that evening.

Saturday’s evacuation is the latest in a recent string of troubling incidents at Denver International Airport, the sixth busiest in the world. In March, an engine fire on another American Airlines flight forced passengers to evacuate onto the aircraft’s wing. A month later, a United Airlines flight struck an animal during takeoff, igniting sparks and fire.

Passengers aboard Saturday’s flight described the incident as terrifying. Shay Armistead, a 17-year-old passenger en route to a ski trip in Chile, said the experience was “kind of traumatizing.” She recalled the moment the tire burst: “The plane started vibrating and shaking really bad… we started tilting to the left side of the runway.”

Her teammate, 16-year-old Margaret Gustafson, saw flames beneath the plane and immediately panicked. “That’s when I started fully panicking,” she said. “Some of us just thought we hit something and then we started really swerving.”

Amid the chaos, some passengers screamed and others struggled to stay calm. “One passenger was screaming, ‘We’re all gonna die,’” Armistead said.

Evacuation took about 10 to 15 minutes as passengers exited through the rear slide. While their ski trip was temporarily disrupted, the travelers’ plans were rescheduled for the following morning.

The FAA has opened an investigation into the incident. As of Saturday evening, more than 240 flights out of Denver were delayed, according to flight tracking data.